BSF and beautiful Kreinik Threads

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I was lucky enough to find a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) class here so off I went this morning. It was a very moist, drippy, dreary morning...more of what we have had for the last several days. However along the way, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful colors, rolling hills and the sheer majesty of this world; it had such a peace to it early in the morning. After all, if we didn't have some of these dreary days, we would not appreciate those glorious sunny ones. The trip was an hour each way so I left early and took my time. I stopped on the way to the church and took this picture. You can see the white steeple over the next hill and I just thought this was such a pretty scene. I know, you are probably saying...what! Yes, the contrast of grass, mountains, hills, even on such a dreary day was just breathtaking. Scenes like this always give me hope and confirm to me the presence of God in everything.

Below is a gaggle of geese I passed on the way back to my folks house after my lesson. I wish you could have seen them, they were so cute and were really enjoying this drippy day.Below is the last bit of road to Mom and Dad's house on top of the mountain. Lots of leaves, and even a flock of wild turkeys ran and flitted across the road at one point. As you can see, there is a sharp drop off to the left. It amazes me, but they will still build homes off the side of the mountain. They put the basement and a first floor below and then the second or main floor up at the road level. However, those that build on one of the many lakes here, often put their home down at the lake and OMG, you should see the driveway! Scary! Mom and Dad used to have a house like that. The driveway was about 50 yards long and it was at almost a 45 degree angle from the street down to the house - took me quite a while to get used to it - I mean, you couldn't even see the bottom when you first started out until the car was totally on the driveway, nose pointed down. You know what the main reason for moving was? The mailbox was at the top of the driveway and the walk up to it was terrible! Now, on the mountain top, they have a pretty flat drive and can use a walker to get to the mailbox.When I started this blog, I had no idea that I would be here, away from home and my studio, away from my sewing machine and my stash. I had hoped to start working with fibers and my Babylock and each day show you my progress so we could learn together. Well, that will have to wait a while longer, but I do want to show you pictures of this recent project I did for the Kreinik Thread Company. Kreinik has some beautiful threads; metallics and silks as well as others. They asked me to design a block for the Houston Quilt Show that would showcase some of their threads. I chose to do this Kimono design and used as many of their threads as I could on the seam treatments, etc. It is hard to see in the photo, but I stacked stitches with many of their threads and often it appears like a trim; as on the diagonal portion of the sleeve. I added the 3-d butterfly for a bit of whimsy. It is done with a butterfly motif from some fabric in my stash added to each side of some Timtex....then it was embroidered, beaded, and fastened down in the middle of the butterfly to give a bit of movement.

Here are some closeups of stitching...

Here I am at the Houston Show with Doug Kreinik and Dena Lenham in the Kreinik Thread booth. It was very exciting for me to be involved with such a wonderful company. You can see my block just above my head. They had blocks from many individuals who use Kreinik thread and it was such fun to see the imaginative designs. This kimono design was featured as the BOI on CQMagOnline's last issue and there is a pattern there for your use along with a complete outline of the stitches I used on the block.